Ballard Oil

THESE GUYS ARE THE BEST. PERIOD.
Why would you put up with the lack of customer service at Sound Oil when you can get everything you need (with a smile!) from the helpful people at Ballard Oil?
I'll never go anywhere else. Thank you, Ballard Oil, for your amazing customer service at a very frustrating and cold time in our house. I'll be telling everyone about you!

I was somewhat new to the area and especially new to having oil as my source of home heating. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and ran out this past winter (2021) on a weekend right before the snow was arriving. They bailed me out on a Saturday selling me two 5-gallon containers full of heating oil (which I had to fill by hand - no big deal). They also talked me through (on the phone) the steps in order to restart the heater because it went into auto shut-down once I was out of oil. Very friendly and helpful company with great prices. Highly recommend.

WARNING - Ballard is the only oil company that quotes prices less tax.  This artificially deflates their price.  They are the only oil company that post prices online, but when shopping around, the other oil companies quote pricing with tax included.  Keep this in mind.  

Usually the the best deal on home heating oil in Seattle.  Ballard Oil's primary business is buying and selling fuel for marine sales. They buy so many varieties of fuel from so many sources, they are constantly getting competitive inventory. Whereas some of the heating oil retailers in Seattle buy only heating oil, in relatively low volumes, only a couple times a year. And they often buy on futures or take inventory when prices may be low, such as early Spring. The problem is if prices slide after they set their inventory, they are selling at a high price.

Today, for example, the home heating oil vendors are selling heating oil about 40 cents/gallon more than Ballard. Ballard's price is just about the same as the current good price for Off road diesel (on road, off road diesel and home heating oil in our market are the exact same thing except on road diesel has about 35 cents of added road tax). The reason the home heating oil guys are off by 49 cents is they probably locked their price 6 months ago. Be a smart consumer.

Buyer beware...if you are NOT signing up for the maintenance contract in APRIL, you will be paying for the contract up to 2 YEARS FROM NOW. The inspection was a great deal with the contract but now we are stuck with it (and paying for it) for 2 years. Since I sent it to them online, they even changed the terms and mailed it to me with a IMAGE OF MY SIGNATURE. This makes me super uncomfortable that someone can go in and add in their own terms (without asking me) but use the contract/signature of SOMETHING ELSE I SIGNED.

I was planning on upgrading my furnace to electric next year and its a real bummer to have this on my plate.

Secondly, I signed up with them in JULY and they told me someone was going to come out within the next week for delivery (since I heard prices were lower in the summer). No one came until almost 2 months from then. No one inspected my furnace until SEPTEMBER. Be prepared for a long haul on this one.

Terrible company. Avoid them if possible.
1.My furnace had been working great before they touch it, but they trick me to change my furnace nozzle.
2. they scamed me by charging $250 for a nozzle which only cost $15 from other company.
3. They broke my furnace which required me to spend extra 600 to fix my furnace.
4.their oil quality is bad. I'm told by two other technic guys the oil color in my furnace looks wrong.
below are the details.

I signed up a contract with them for auto delivery 3 two years ago. By sign up the contract, they said they will offer annual servicing furnace tune up at $80 flat rate. two month later, they come over for a tune up. By that time, my furnace has no issue. During the tune up, the technic guy said he had to change my nozzle for safety standard. He said my current nozzle is too old and does not meet the safety standard. I told him my furnace had been working great and I don't want to change anything of it. He said he had to change it, otherwise he will disable my furnace because he is required by law to do so. By the way, the price he charged to change nozzle is $250, which later i found out is a scam. I have a service from sound oil and the technical guy change nozzle for just 15 dollars.

A month after he changeD my nozzle, my furnace went down. So I called them and have them over. it turned out it's the nozzle got stuck and not able to eject oil. He fixed it by pull out the nozzle. he asked me to pay $80 for it. I complained and rejected to pay him because it's the issue they caused by changing my nozzle. He was very unhappy and said next time he will have to charge it even it's the same issue.

2 month later, my furnace went down again. I suspected it must be nozzle issue again. sure enough, it's the nozzle got stuck again. this time they charged me $80 for it and I paid for it.

in a month later, my furnace went down again. I called them to fix it, they said they can't because the technic guy said I don't like him and was unwilling to come over. I told the operator: " if they don't plan to fix my furnace, why the heck they deliver the oil to my tank. fixing the furnace is part of the contract." but they just denied the service is part of contract. I believe the technic guy afraid to take responsibility. he messed up my furance, but not able to find the problem.

avoid them if possible. I spent nearly $1000 for their mistakes.

This company and their employees are great.  I have been shopping around for some more competitive oil pricing and recently switched to Ballard to save money but their service has been great as well.  They set up my service contract and oil tank contract and prorated to get me on schedule.  My initial furnace service was quick and comprehensive.  The service contract pricing among the different companies seem to be pretty similar but their staff have made the transition from my old company painless.  I certainly recommend Ballard Oil.  ~~  Mike

It's freezing in Seattle. Like, really really cold. My husband requested a heating oil delivery film this company and it never came. About 9 days later I was too cold to wait any longer for it so I called them. They lost our order. Then they found it and promised to deliver oil in two days. Then they called and said it would be another three days more before I could be warm. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!  I cancelled the order and called Genesee energy and they delivered in less than 12 hours.

I've been getting home heating oil delivery from them for a few years. They are always by far the cheapest around, and the only ones who post the price on their website. I love it.

I had an issue with my order this year and they quickly went out of their way to make it right. Great service

Companies like Ballard Oil make me really miss living there. They have small town charm which I love. I've used them off and on for about 7 years.

Say you're a renter like me and have no idea which way is up with a furnace because this is the first time you've used heating oil. And let's say that you run out of oil routinely because of poor planning and general freeze-assery during colder winter months. Well, you may have issues getting heat when you need it most.

In the most dire of times when I was positive that my furnace was on the fritz, Ballard Oil offered comforting advice, talking me through things, and helping me to make rational decisions when I was clearly incapable of doing so. The technicians have spent time on the phone with me trouble shooting to find my issue. Whether it's servicing the furnace, replacing filters, or simply buying some oil, I've always found them to be helpful. They've also been honest with me about service calls, letting me know ahead of time whether something could possibly cost overtime so I can decide what to do.

If you're strapped for cash, you can pick up a few gallons in person. As with all oil, the more you buy, the better the price. They also try to be efficient by ensuring they have a full route before delivering oil, which I appreciate. Over the years, I can honestly say that most of what I know about my furnace and heating oil has come from the folks who work at Ballard Oil.

Their oil service might be ok, but I needed a level reading for a real estate sale. I was promised twice it would be emailed. We ended up having to drive over and pick it up in person. Their undelivered promise jeopardized a 500K payday. Not cool. Either don't make the promises, or just get it done.